Botilecooler



Feb. 24, 1942. R. w. HULL ET AL BOTTLE COOLER Filed April 20, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 EW HULL J. c. MOUEE Feb; 24, 1942. R, w, HUL ETAL 2,274,065

BOTTLE COOLER Filed April 20, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 19W. HULL Q BOTTLE COOLER Filed April 20, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 1 1 1 1111 11 1 1 1 11 1 11 1 11 11 11 11 1 11 11 11 11 1 1 a 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 111111 11 1 11 1 1 11 11 2 1 1 1 1 1b 1 4 4 1M1 1 1 1 1 1 6 11 Qmwytows R. W HULL J C. MOORE.

R. W. HULL ETAL BOTTLE COOLER Feb. 24, 1942.

Filed April 20, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Jyvumvbo o;

E. w. HULL J. c. Mamas? Patented Feb. 24, 1942 UNITE o PATENT oFF i ca :1

obert ,Wintcr liil fifd fifl grawford' Moore,

ments,

Conner svillglnd assignors, by mesne assign to Rex Manufacturing O0mpany,,lnc.,

Connc'rsville, Indra oorporationof Indiana Application mil-a, 1939, Serial. No. 269,045

6 Claims. (01312-36) This, invention relates .to,- di,spensing; apparatus for bottled beverages and the primary objectof thesame is to provide afrefrigerated. cabinet ofthe drycoolingtype so constructed. as to. facilitate; the handling and dispensing of bottledg-oods with a. minimum of cold loss and a. maximum of cooling efficiency. a i i I Cabinets of the dry, cooling, automatic dispensing type are known, but asheretoforeconstructed. have been. subject .to certain objections in that the dispensing mechanism was complicatedand inclined; to. jam, the capacity of, the cabinetwas limited, due to the room, occupied by. the, dispensing; mechanism, and other factors. The, prsentinvention is designed, to provide a, bottle; dispensing cabinet which will overcome the'iore going and. other objectionable: ieatures. The

' tweenthe one side wall of 't 1e .cabinet, and inner ingnthelatter and ooacting cflooling coils in rear endfelevatiom a 7 Fig 5 isa bottom plan view oi/said inner casing or, linerftakensubstantially on the, line 5+5,

Fig.4;

.Fig. 6 is. a vertical sectionalview taken, be-

casing or liner, showing, thelatter. in broken side elevation together with the coacting coolingj coils;

Figs. 7 and8 are. enlargeddetail fragmentary views of the, bottle dispensing wheel or magazine and coacti ng indexing disc to better illustrate the manner of mounting thesame in, the cabinet;

Figs.,9, and 10 are enlarged fragmentary detail,

views of the door handle or latch and. adjacent bottle dispensing mechanism. operates; auto matically through actuation, of the doorj ofthe cabinet, and due to a particular, arrangement of, the dispensing apparatus, the bottles'rexriovedj thnoughopening of the door are, not crowdedior moved, out of. alignmentv due, to excess Wei ht, of, bottles thereabove; maximum load, capacity is provided, and the door may be opened and; a

bottle removed easily and quickly so that; there is a minimum, of, cold loss; and the, cabinet and coacting' dispensing, mechanism are arranged in a. manner such as. to. obtain maximum lcooling efiiciency with, a, mini'mumflnumbe'rof'cooling;

coils I Morespecifically, therefore, the invention is concerned with improvements in bottle. dispensing cabinets wherebylthe. same arerenderedmore. efficient andconv'enient in operatiojmf v, I In the, drawings: I I i Fig. l is a perspective view of; a cabinetembodying the features of, the invention; i Fig, 2' is an enlarged fragmentary view transverse, vertical section of the cabinet and ooacting dispensing apparatus, the section; being, j

taken substantially centrally of the cabine'tf Fig. 2a, is. an. enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional View of the end; of the bottle chute and,

the, enacting bottle receiving and transfer device carried by thedoor, the latter being. shownopen;

Fig-3 is a view similar to Fig, 2 but taken,be-' tween the nearestside wall of. the cabinetand the inner casing or bottle compartment linen, and

particularly showing the indexing andactuating means for the bottle dispensing wheel. or magazine;

Fight isavertical' sectional view taken between the rear insulated wall of the cabinet and the inner casing or bottle. compartment liner, show,

portions of the door and jamb;

Fig. 11, isa fragmentaryview in'broken front elevation. of. a portion ofhthe door, particularly showing; the manner of; operatively connecting the indexing wheel actuating .mechanism tothe door.' I

The, apparatusinclu'des a cabinet generally indicated", at, C in Fig. 1, which may be made up of a plurality of individual sections or refrigerated. compartments, or eachsection may be consider-edas a complete cabinet in itself. Inthe form. shown, the cabinet is made .up of a plurality" of individual; compartments with a separate ar- ,rangement, of cooling and bottle dispensing ape paratus. for each section or unit; and the descriptionand drawingswill beconsidered as applying to each, individual section of thecabinet' or to. the cabinet as a whole, The cabinet or each, section thereof comprises an outer insulated wal1.5,note particularly Fig; 2 and an inner casing, or bottle compartment liner 6 which is preferably comprised of sheet metal .or like materialhaving a high ratio of thermal conductivity and, is spacedfrom the wall 5 to. provide a compartmentfia for ,coolingcoils orianalogous means. The arrangement of the cooling coils is best;

shown. inliigsg l, 5 and. 6. The ,source of refrigeration is not shown but may obviously be of the mechanical type such as a, motor, compressorcondenser-unit or of the heat generator 8lbso rp-,v

tion or any'other suitable type. 'The line from the compressor or high pressure side of the system is, indicated, at I, said linejhaving] therein heat-exchangecoil 1 a,, and beyond this 0011 connecting with. expansion. valve 8, from which the refrigerant passjes through line 9 and union 90,

into a series of bottom] coils I0 and Illa and then upwardly, into sidecoils l I, and I la, the refrigerant returning through lines l2, 12a and union I 20, note Fig. 4, and then through line I 2a. to the source of refrigeration. A temperature control unit I3 (Figs. 2 and 6) is mounted in a separate storage compartment I4 formed in the cabinet in a manner to be described and this unit communicates through tube I3a with a temperature control coil I3b. The expansion valve 8 is provided with capillary tube I5 (Fig. 4) which communicates with the valve through line I 5a.

It will thus be seen that the inner compartment in which the bottles are disposed is cooled both at the sides and bottom, the cooling coils being located in separate compartments adjacent the main bottle storage compartment, generally indicated at I6, note Fig. 2, and shownwith a plurality of bottles B disposed therein. This arrangement of coils ensures maximum cooling efliciency with a minimum of coil length and space, while the location of the control unit ensures proper regulation at all times.

The entire casing 6 is preferably suspended as a unit by means of channels I1, note Fig. 4, which are secured to the upper side walls of the cabinet and rest on ledges or shoulders IIa provided by angle members secured to the adjacent outer insulated walls as indicated at Ill). The top of the cabinet is removable to accommodate insertion and removal of the casing and coil assembly, note Fig. 6 in conjunction with Fig. 4.

Considering, now, the dispensing apparatus, the

arrangement is such that when the door I8 at I the front of the compartment is opened, a bottle is automatically transferred from the cooling compartment to and held on theinner face of the door within convenientreach of the party opening the door, note the position shown in Fig. 2a. The mechanism whereby this is accomplished comprises a bottle dispensing wheel or magazine generally indicated at I9, which is secured on a shaft I9a and may be formed of a series of arcuate plates Welded together about a common axis to provide a plurality of magazine recesses I9b, each of which is adapted to receive a bottle and move the latter around until it reaches a gravity runway or chute 20. This runway is preferably of a length such as will accommodate a limited number of bottles but not of such, length or inclination as to impose undue weight on the bottles adjacent the door and particularly on the bottle in contact with the door and which is the next to be removed when the door is opened. The bottom of the runway is provided by wall 20a which comprises part of the wall 6 and this wall 20a is curved as it approaches the back of the main storage compartment to conform to the contour of the periphery of the dispensing wheel I9 and serves to retain the bottles within the recesses I 91) at this point without interposing any appreciable resistance to rotation of the wheel. The top of the runway is provided by wall 20b which wall also forms the bottom of the cold storage compartment I4. The door is hinged as at 2|, and on the inner lower face thereof there is mounted a bottle transfer or delivery device 22, see Figs. 2 and 2a. This device is formed with an arcuate inner wall 22a and a shoulder 22b, and the bottom wall 20a of the, runway 20 terminates in a downturned strengthening flange 200 within predetermined closely spaced relation to the arcuate wall 22a,

permitting free movement of the latter when the door is swung. A bottle-retaining wall 220 is formed on the one end of the device 22, and this wall is preferably inclined and has its edge rolled P to strengthen and stiffen the same.

It will be seen that as the bottles roll down the runway 20, the foremost bottle will engage in the pocket formed by the parts 221), 220, so that when the door is opened the foremost bottle will lie on the inner face of the door as indicated in Fig. 2a. The next bottle in the chute will roll down until it touches the inner edge of arcuate wall 22a, as shown in Fig. 2a, and all the bottles in the chute which have followed said next bottle then will be held without movement until the door is closed, whereupon they will all move slightly as the lowermost bottle rolls into the now empty pocket formed on the member 22.

The bottle-dispensing or magazine wheel I9 is preferably of a width such as to substantially span the width of the main bottle compartment, or of a width such as will prevent a bottle from falling off of the wheel or becoming cooked or misaligned. The top wall 23 of the compartment I4 provides a deflector or guide, note particularly Fig. 2. The rear wall of the main bottle compartment is provided with a deflector or guide 24. The deflector walls 23 and 24 constitute, in effect, a hopper for the bottles which guides the same into the recess IQ?) of the wheel I9. These members 23, 24 may be made of sheet metal or the like and are easily fabricated. The rear end wall 23a of the compartment I 4 forms the adjacent side wall of the hopper, the recesses I9b of the wheel I9 being empty as they pass this point.

The dispensing wheel or magazine I9 is intermittently rotated, when the door I8 is opened and closed, through the medium of an indexing disc 25, note particularly Figs. 3 and 7, which is mounted on the end of shaft I9a carrying the dispensing wheel IS, the said disc being mounted in the coil compartment 6a. The disc is formed on its periphery with a series of cam surfaces terminating in one-way teeth or notches 25a which are adapted to be engaged by the active end of gravity pawl 26 pivotally mounted on the lower end of an arm 21 which straddles the disc, the upper end of said arm being pivoted on the outer end of shaft I9a. The arm 21 has pivotally connected thereto a link 28, which extends forwardlyto a point adjacent the door opening. A pivot member 29 is projected through the front end of link 28 and has mounted thereon a bearing member 2911, note Fig. 11, on which the link is directly mounted, said bearing member being formed with a flange 29b which is welded to a member 290 connected to the door. Thus when the door is opened, it pulls the link 28 forwardly, and through weighted pawl 26, arm 2'! and indexing disc 25, imparts a rotary step to dispensing wheel I9.

The wheel actuating mechanism including disc 25, arm 21, pawl 26 and link 28 is housed in the coil compartment 6a, and this mechanism may be installed on one or both sides of the door and operatively connected to .both ends of wheel I9.

To limit the opening movement of the door, a link 30 is connected at its upper end through the medium of a slotted opening 30a with a screw or like member 30b which is anchored to the frame of the door, and at its lower end is pivotally rlgiourited on the outer end of bearing-29a, note When the door is opened, the link 28, pawl 26 and arm 21 move from the full line position shown in Fig. 3 to the dotted line position, thepawl 26 engaging one of the teeth or. notches 25a of the. disc 25, imparting a partialor step rotation to, the dispensing wheel I9. When the door is closed the links 30 and 28 and pawl 26 movebackto the full line position. d j

To prevent back or reverse rotation of the disc 25 and dispensing wheel f9, a one-way latch 3| is pivotally mounted on a stub shaft 3la adjacent the disc 25 and isprovided with a pin 3Ib adapted to engage the teeth or notches 25a of the disc 25. j

The door is provided with a handle 32 mounted on a bracket 32a anchored to the door. A latch assembly 33 is provided and is fixed in a recess formed in the inner face of the door, see Fig. 10, said assembly includinga latch nib'sta adapted toengage a spring catch 34 se'curedin a recess 34a formed in the door frame.

From the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the drawings, the operation of the apparatus will be readily understood. 'The bottles maybe disposed in the cabinetin horizontal position, and the entire cabinet filled to capacity. The bottle dispensing wheel ormagazine 19 will be given a partial turn, or step-by-step rotation whenever the door is opened and closed; and each time this occurs, a bottle is carried around by the wheel Hi to. a point-where it will roll by gravity down the runway 26, the foremost bottle I lying in the pocket formed bythe member 22. ,When the door is opened the bottleisbrought to the position shown in Fig. 2a within ready reach of the party opening the door and may be easily and quickly removed and the door closed. This type of dispensing mechanism will operate smoothly and surely irrespective of whether or not the cabinet is completely filled with bottles or only partially filled. This is due to the fact that the wheel I9 together with the deflector walls 23 and 24 provide in effect a feed hopper which inte'rposes a barrier between the load of bottles and those on the gravity runway 20. As each bottle is taken from the lower end of the chute a fresh bottle is moved into gravity feed position at the upper end thereof. The apparatus will continue to function easily and smoothly down to the last bottle.

A common fault with cabinets of the type utilizing a dispensing wheel in conjunction with a feed hopper is that the bottles tend to form an arch or bridge across the opening to the dispensing wheel and jam at this point. In order to avoid any tendency towards bridging and jamming across the opening to the dispensing wheel in the present instance, said wheel is so located with respect to the hopper opening and the outer tips of the wheel so extended that said tips strike one or more bottles in the hopper each time the wheel is rotated and raise them sufficiently to break up the arch or bridge.

The compartment l4 formed by the walls 201), 23 and 2311 forms a convenient storage place for various food products or different types of beverages, this compartment being so located as to be readily accessible from the door opening without permitting an undue rush or escape of cold air from the main bottle compartment.

The entire arrangement is such as to promote refrigerated within the described cabinet; hence,

the references to bottles in the description and claims are not limitations but are merely descriptive and illustrative.

What is claimed is:

'1. Bottle dispensing apparatus comprising a cabinet having a door openingand a refrigerated bottle storage compartment or chamber therein, deflector walls in said chamber arranged in opposed converging relation to' cause the bottles to roll by gravity to a common hopper-like passage, a gravity runway having its receiving end communicating with said passage and its discharge end terminating adjacent the door opening, a door for said opening having means on the inner face thereof adapted to receive'a bottle from said runway and carry it outwardly with the door whenthe door is opened, means operatively connecting said door with said wheel whereby each time the door is opened and'closed said wheel is given a step-by-step rotary movement, and a separate storage compartment in said bottle storage compartment, the top wall of said latter storage compartment comprising one of said first-named deflectors and thebottom wall of said latter compartment overlying said runway.

2. Bottle dispensing apparatus comprising a cabinet having a door opening and a refrigerated bottle storage compartment or chamber therein, an outer insulated wall and an inner casing or housing spaced from said wall and forming the side and bottom walls of 'said'storage chamber, means within the lower region of said chamber providing a hopper-like passage terminating in a gravity runway adjacent the door opening, a. rotary bottle dispensing wheel or magazine extending transversely across said hopper-like passage and when idle preventing the bottles in the storage compartment from moving into said runway, a door for said opening, an indexing disc mounted in the space between said casing and outer insulated wall and having an operative connection with said magazine wheel, and pawl and linkage mechanism operatively connecting said door with said disc whereby each time the door is opened and closed, the disc is actuated to thereby actuate the magazine wheel and efiect delivery of a bottle from the storage compartment to the upper end of said runway.

3. A bottle cooler comprising a cabinet having insulated walls, a casing in said cobinet spaced from said walls and defining a storage compartment and hopper, said casing being formed of material of good heat conductivity such as sheet metal or the like, the bottom wall of the casing being shaped to provide a gravity runway or. chute, the chute being of such dimensions as to permit passage of a succession of single bottles simplicity, both in construction and operation,

while at the same time obtaining maximum refrigeration efficiency with a minimum of cold loss due to opening and closing 'ofthe door.

It will be understood that certain changes in construction and design may be adopted within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, it will be clear that certain cans, cartons and other objects may be through to the discharge end of the chute, refrigerating coils disposed between the outer insulated walls of the cabinet and said casing and.

I in intimate'relation with said chute and. whereby bottles in said chute or runway are cooled by conduction and those in the hopper by convection, a door for th cabinet closing the discharge end of the chute so that when the door is opened the bottles in the chute are removable in sequence, and means to hold back all the bottll lastexcept the one at the discharge end of the c u e. a

4. A bottle cooler comprising a cabinet having insulated walls, a casing in said cabinet spaced from said walls and formed of sheet metal or like material having good heat conducting properties, said casing .being shaped to provide a chute or runway at the bottom of the compartment and a storage compartment and hopper thereabove, the chute being of such dimensions as to permit passage of a succession of single bottles through to the discharge end of the chute, means partitioning the chute from the storage compartment, refrigerating coils disposed in the space between the insulated walls and the casing and arranged to cool the bottles in the chute by conduction and those in the hopper by convection, bottle dispensing means interposed between the hopper and the chute for directing bottles one at a time from the hopper to the chute, a door in the cabinet closing the discharge end of said chute, and means mounted on the door adapted to pick up a bottle at the discharge end of the chute and move it out of the chute to a point where it may be removed by the user, the last named means being operable automatically upon opening of the door.

5. A bottle cooler comprising a cabinet having insulated walls, a casing of sheet metal or like material having good heat conducting properties disposed in said cabinet in spaced relation to said insulated walls providing a bottle storage compartment and hopper, the bottom of the casing being shaped to provide a chute or runway, the chute being of such dimensions as to permit passage of a succession of single bottles through to the discharge end of the chute, a supplemental cold storage compartment separating the chute from the storage compartment, refrigerating coils disposed in the space between the insulated walls and said casing and arranged to cool the bottles in the chute by conduction and those in the hopper by convection, and a door in the cabinet located in a manner such that when it is opened it exposes the discharge end of said chute and also opens said supplemental storage compartment.

6. Bottle dispensing apparatus comprising a cabinet having a door opening and a refrigerated bottle storage compartment or chamber therein, an outer insulated wall and an inner casing or housing spaced from said wall and forming the side and bottom walls of said storage chamber, means within said'storage chamber providing a hopper-like passage terminating in a gravity runway adjacent the door opening, a rotary bottle dispensing magazine extending across said hopper-like passage and when idle preventing the bottles in the storage chamber from moving into said runway, a door for said opening, an indexing member mounted in the space between said casing and outer insulated wall and having an operative connection with said magazine, and mechanism operatively connecting said door with said indexing member whereby each time the door is opened and closed the indexing member is actuated to thereby actuate the magazine and effect delivery of a bottle from the storage compartment to the upper end of said runway.

ROBERT WINTER HULL. JOHN CRAWFORD MOORE. 

